I haven't posted in a long time, but I was shocked tonight because I have deadmalls.com liked on my Facebook and it just showed up on my news feed how there was a huge arson fire there, and they weren't sure if the mall would end up next on the list.

This guy may not be a horrible person, but it sounds like he was definitely unstable and should've gotten the help he needed earlier. I just wish it wouldn't take a near-tragedy like this to remind people of that. Luckily no lives were lost and that's the most important thing, but it still is a drag there's probably tons of merchandise that just got wasted and people out of work for now.

It looks absolutely HUGE from what I've seen, so I'm sure tons of hard work and precision went into building it, I'd hate to see that all go out the window because of one dude's stupid decision and everyone else has to be punished (i.e. the employees) in an already tough economy. There's a few years gap in Google Earth's images so it must've been built in 1999-2001...but nontheless still pretty new. When I lived there it was still open prairie land, lol.

I'm pretty sure this guy is a huge piece of $hit. How can you be a good person and do something to this magnitude. It wasn't an accident, he DID this.

I just read that Roseville is seeking state and federal funding in light of the damage to the Galleria.
Shouldn't this be covered by insurance? Why are tax dollars being requested for a private venture?

Forget the guy... The real tragedy here is that in todays passive (its all about me) society nobody has the cahones to stand up to this guy and take him down. I heard he had ~3hr to basically do what he wanted inside the mall. Threrefore the large fire. I guess were all going back to pre 911 days and letting the guys with box cutters take over our planes. Scary

I just read that Roseville is seeking state and federal funding in light of the damage to the Galleria.Shouldn't this be covered by insurance? Why are tax dollars being requested for a private venture?

What am I missing here?

Arson may not be covered by insurance... and will require mountains of paperwork, investigation, criminal trials, etc... it will probably be a minimum of 1 year before they see aa penny. I'm not saying it's right that state/federal $$s go to this, just saying this could be the logic.

The Galleria brings a ton of people into Roseville, who will now probably end up going elsewhere. It is going to be a huge, unexpected hit to the cities finances. This is the kind of thing that cities cannot really plan for and I suspect that is why the request for assistance, not necessarily for the mall itself.

A VETERAN
Whether active duty, retired, national guard or reserve - is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount "up to and including their life".
That is HONOR, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.
-Author unknown-

The Galleria brings a ton of people into Roseville, who will now probably end up going elsewhere. It is going to be a huge, unexpected hit to the cities finances. This is the kind of thing that cities cannot really plan for and I suspect that is why the request for assistance, not necessarily for the mall itself.

Okay. That makes more sense. I guess it could be such a hit that the city might not be able to keep its services up and running.

Forget the guy... The real tragedy here is that in todays passive (its all about me) society nobody has the cahones to stand up to this guy and take him down. I heard he had ~3hr to basically do what he wanted inside the mall. Threrefore the large fire. I guess were all going back to pre 911 days and letting the guys with box cutters take over our planes. Scary

different strokes for different cities...if it happened in folsom the police folks would have got right to it, shot him with a tazer and if they missed hit him with few rounds with the pistola, and let the fire folks get to work.

I don't understand how it is possible for a fire to spread and do that much damage in a fully sprinklered building built to current (2000) building codes. If the sprinkler system was working and the local fire marshall was insuring that the stores were complying with code regarding storage of goods this should never have happened.

Forget the guy... The real tragedy here is that in todays passive (its all about me) society nobody has the cahones to stand up to this guy and take him down. I heard he had ~3hr to basically do what he wanted inside the mall. Threrefore the large fire. I guess were all going back to pre 911 days and letting the guys with box cutters take over our planes. Scary

The mall burned down because the fire and pd were too afraid to confront the guy. In today's litigious society you're not allowed to hurt the bad guy, especially if he's mental

Interests:Volunteer with a service club like Active 20-30, and you CAN make a difference!

Posted 22 October 2010 - 10:28 AM

Pardon the threadjack... I don't feel that the OTHER big fire is getting enough attention. The River City Food Bank in Midtown burned up on Thursday morning. They are not presently taking food donations since they no longer have anywhere to put it but they still need help. http://www.rivercityfoodbank.org/

"I enjoy a bit of cooking, and this has always worried me. But it's OK. I only like it because it allows me to play with knives." - James May

I don't understand how it is possible for a fire to spread and do that much damage in a fully sprinklered building built to current (2000) building codes. If the sprinkler system was working and the local fire marshall was insuring that the stores were complying with code regarding storage of goods this should never have happened.

I'm not a fire person- but my first thought on that:

Depends on the type of accelerent used? Some don;t extinguish with water.

And clothing and electrical lines tend to burn much hotter than a fireplace filled with logs-don't they?

So, maybe according to what they were overly cautious as being possibly in the bag had something to do with that very fast burning fire?

Heard a first responder on the radio this morning. He said they actually got the guy pretty quickly but there were still people being evacuated from the mall and they werent sure what the guy had in the backpack so they were waiting for the bomb squad.

And the internal sprinkler system doesn't go forever, I guess it's only designed to contain the fire for a while. So while they waited for the bomb squad the fire smoldered and spread into walls and other parts of the mall. When it really started to go the roof became a concern and they did not go in. The bomb squad never found the backpack because it was under a ton of debris from the initial fire he said.

The firefighter on the radio said they have a few rules: Save yourself first, save your firefighter buddy next, save the people in the structure. After that it's just property.

I guess some folks wouldnt have been satisified unless a bunch of guys were killed trying to save some video games and clothes from The Gap.